ATTITUDE CHANGE FROM AN IMPLIED THREAT TO ATTITUDINAL FREEDOM

College students were told they were to write an essay supporting 1 or the other side on each of 5 issues, and were led to believe they might be able to influence the decision about which side of an attitudinal issue they were to support. In all cases they were then told to support the side (either pro or con) they initially preferred, and postmeasures were then obtained before the actual writing. Those who were given the impression that their preference was taken into account in the decision regarding which side they would support on the 1st issue showed attitude change favoring the preferred position (i.e., moving toward greater extremity, while retaining their initial polarity). Others, who were given the impression the decision was made without regard to their preference, tended to show attitude change away from the preferred position they were told to support. Within this latter group, those who expected to be told on which side to write on all 5 issues showed significantly greater change away than did those who expected to be told which side to support on only the 1st of the 5 issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.